An Antiques Roadshow guest was left dumbstruck after learning the value of their ‘marvellous’ rare collection. 

An episode of the popular BBC programme saw the public bring various heritage items to Burton Constable Hall and Parkland in Yorkshire for valuation. 

Expert Judith Miller met with an elderly lady, accompanied by her three grown-up daughters and granddaughter, to ᴀssess what her collectables would fetch at auction.

In the resurfaced episode, which originally aired in 2017, the woman had brought along her late husband’s enormous beloved shoe buckle collection.

The woman was left overwhelmed after learning that the collection of 1,500 buckles, which she bought for around £2 each, were worth a mᴀssive £200,000. 

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An Antiques Roadshow guest was left dumbstruck after learning the value of their ‘marvellous’ rare collection

Expert Judith Miller met with an elderly lady, accompanied by her three grown-up daughters and granddaughter, to ᴀssess what her collectables would fetch at auction

The woman had brought along her late husband’s enormous beloved shoe buckle collection

Speaking to the family, Judith said: ‘So, absolutely surrounded by Georgian shoe buckles. How did you get them?’ 

The widow replied: ‘Well, my late husband, it was his collection and he collected them for over 50 years.’ 

The antiques expert dubbed the expansive ᴀssortment of buckles ‘marvellous’, before explaining the history of this type of fastening.

‘They had buckles in the medieval period but then they went out of fashion and then they came back in the mid-17th century’, she explained. 

‘People like Samuel Pepys wrote about putting buckles on his shoes.’ 

The buckles were mostly from a narrow time period, with Judith explaining: ‘A lot of these are from the golden period of shoe buckles from 1750 to 1780.’

She explained her husband’s interest in them began after his father gifted him a couple of them, adding: ‘From then on, he just liked them. 

‘When we went to antiques fairs, we were always looking for shoe buckles. 

The guest explained her husband accrued the vast collection over the course of more than 50 years 

One of the lady’s daughters spoke fondly about her father’s collecting habits: ‘I think it’s amazing he collected it over so many years. He was so proud of it’

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‘We could go into quite an upmarket antiques shop and we were probably paying £2, ten shillings, something like that, for Georgian shoe buckles.’

Judith asked: ‘And did it become a little bit of an obsession?’ 

The guest laughed, confessed: ‘Yes, just a bit.’ 

One of the lady’s daughters spoke fondly about her father’s collecting habits, adding: ‘I think it’s amazing he collected it over so many years. He was so proud of it. 

‘He researched them, he cleaned them, he catalogued them, he loved showing people, he loved talking about them.’ 

Another of the daughters then quickly chimed in to reveal that they had ‘an awful lot’ more buckles still back at home. 

They confessed they had around 1,500 buckles in total – which Judith dubbed ‘a little bit of an obsession’, to laughs from the guests.

A particularly charming pair of cream ware buckles caught the appraiser’s attention, who dubbed the colour and ceramic material ‘absolutely beautiful and so impractical’.

The owner replied: ‘Well, this is partially why there aren’t that many around. Because obviously they got broken.’ 

When it came to the nitty gritty of pricing, the expert valued the entire collection at around £200,000

The elderly owner was left dumbstruck, as her family and bystanders audibly gasped

One of her daughters said, ‘Oh God’, as all the women quickly became emotional at the eye-watering sum

Read More Antiques Roadshow guest struggles to speak after learning value of ‘extraordinary’ family heirloom

While Judith agreed: ‘Obviously, as soon as you put them on, they would break. You can’t imagine they survived one single wearing.’ 

When it came to the nitty gritty of pricing, the expert valued the more ordinary pairs of shoe buckles at a respectable £100 each.

Meanwhile, it was estimated those in cases would fetch an impressive £600 at auction – while a particularly lovely cream pair would go under the hammer for an amazing £1,000. 

But the most astounding news was still to come, as Judith concluded: ‘So, if you look at the collection as a whole, and it’s pretty staggering to me, I think we’re looking here with your collection, at £200,000.’ 

The elderly owner was left dumbstruck, as her family and bystanders audibly gasped. 

One of her daughters said, ‘Oh God’, as all the women quickly became emotional at the eye-watering sum. 

But that was not what mattered most to the widow, who said: ‘We don’t really sort of think of that. I mean, they are a collection and we are keeping the collection. 

‘They will get pᴀssed down to my three daughters and possibly even further down the line than that. He just loved them. Absolutely loved them.’

Judith finished: ‘Well, isn’t it lovely you’ve got this lovely inheritance, you’ve got your daughters and granddaughter? It’s a lovely family story.’ 

Antiques Roadshow airs on BBC One and is available to stream on iPlayer.